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"The extraordinary reach of Western imperialism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is one of the most astonishing facts in all of geopolitical history. Neither Rome, nor Byzantium, nor Spain at the height of its glory came close to the imperial scope of France, the United States, and particularly Great Britain in these years. But while the rule of these vast dominions left scarcely a corner of life untouched in either the colonies or the imperialist capitals, its profound influence upon the cultural products of the West has been largely ignored. In this dazzling work of historical inquiry, Edward Said shows how the justification for empire-building was inescapably embedded in the Western cultural imagination during the Age of Empire, and how even today the imperial legacy colors relations between the West and the formerly colonized world at every level of political, ideological, and social practice." "Probing some of the great masterpieces of the Western tradition - including Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Austen's Mansfield Park, Verdi's Aida, and Camus's L'Estranger - Said brilliantly illuminates how culture and politics cooperated, knowingly and unknowingly, to produce a system of domination that involved more than cannon and soldiers - a sovereignty that extended over forms, images, and the very imaginations of both the dominators and the dominated. The result was a "consolidated vision" that affirmed not merely the Europeans' right to rule but their obligation, and made alternative arrangements unthinkable." "Pervasive as this vision was, however, it did not go unchallenged. Said also traces the development of an "oppositional strain" in the works of native writers who participated in the perilous process of cultural decolonization. Working mainly in the languages of their colonial masters, these writers - including William Butler Yeats, Salman Rushdie, Aime Cesaire, and Chinua Achebe - identified and exposed mechanisms of control and repression. In so doing, they reclaimed for their peoples the right of self-determination in history and literature." "In today's post-colonial world, Said argues, imperialist assumptions continue to influence Western politics and culture, from the media's coverage of the Gulf War to debates over what histories and literatures are worth teaching in our schools. But his vision reveals a hopeful truth: if the West and its former subject peoples are to achieve a meaningful, harmonious coexistence, it will depend upon the development of a humanistic historical understanding that all cultures are interdependent, that they inevitably borrow from one another. Finally this passionate and immensely learned book points the way beyond divisive nationalisms toward an awareness that the true human community is global."--BOOK JACKET.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Colonies, Colonies in literature, European literature, History and criticism, Imperialism, Imperialism in literature, Literature, Politics and culture, Theory, etc Theory, Literature, history and criticism, Colonization, Translations into French, European colonialism, European imperialism, Theory of empire, Production of empire, Arts of empire, Culture of empire, Government administration, Representation, European literature--history and criticism--theory, etc, Literature--history and criticism--theory, etc, European literature--history and criticism--philosophy, Pn761 .s28 1993, 809/.93358People
Aime Cesaire, Charles Dickens (1812-1870), Chinua Achebe, E.M.Forster, Franz Fanon, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Pablo Neruda, Salman Rushdie, W.B.Yeats, Edward W. Said, Colonialists, Colonial subjectsPlaces
Caribbean, Europe, India, Kenya, Malaysia, British colonies, French colonies, European coloniesTimes
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Cultura e Imperialismo / Culture and Imperialism
2019, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial
in Spanish
8466347593 9788466347594
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Culture & Imperialism
April 22, 1997, Random House Value Publishing
Hardcover
in English
051717488X 9780517174883
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Cultura E Imperialismo
May 1997, Anagrama, Editorial Anagrama
Paperback
in Spanish
8433905376 9788433905376
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Culture and imperialism
1994, Vintage Books
in English
- 1st Vintage Books ed.
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Culture and imperialism
1993, Knopf, Distributed by Random House
in English
- 1st ed.
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Culture and Imperialism
1993: original. 1994, paperback., Vintage Books, 1994, Originally Alfred A.Knopf, Inc., 1993.
Paperback
0679750541 9780679750543
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. [337]-361) and index.
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marc_columbia MARC record
Work Description
In a series of essays, Said argues the impact of mainstream culture (mainly British writers of the 19th and early 20th century, like Jane Austen and Rudyard Kipling) on colonialism and imperialism, and conversely how imperialism, resistance to it, and decolonization influenced the English and French novel. In the introduction to the work, Said explains his focus on the novel: he "consider[s] it the aesthetic object whose connection to the expanding societies of Britain and France is particularly interesting to study. The prototypical modern realistic novel is Robinson Crusoe, and certainly not accidentally it is about a European who creates a fiefdom for himself on a distant, non-European island."
On the connection between culture and empire, Said observes that "The power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming and emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them." Hence he analyzes cultural objects in large part to understand how empire works: "For the enterprise of empire depends upon the idea of having an empire... and all kinds of preparations are made for it within a culture; then in turn imperialism acquires a kind of coherence, a set of experiences, and a presence of ruler and ruled alike within the culture."
Said defines "imperialism" as "the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory." His definition of "culture" is more complex, but he strongly suggests that we ought not to forget imperialism when discussing it. Of his overall motive, Said states:
"The novels and other books I consider here I analyze because first of all I find them estimable and admirable works of art and learning, in which I and many other readers take pleasure and from which we derive profit. Second, the challenge is to connect them not only with that pleasure and profit but also with the imperial process of which they were manifestly and unconcealedly a part; rather than condemning or ignoring their participation in what was an unquestioned reality in their societies, I suggest that what we learn about this hitherto ignored aspect actually and truly enhances our reading and understanding of them."
The title is thought to be a reference to two older works, Culture and Anarchy (1867–68) by Matthew Arnold and Culture and Society (1958) by Raymond Williams.
Said argues that, although the "age of empire" largely ended after World War II, when most colonies gained independence, imperialism continues to exert considerable cultural influence in the present. To be aware of this fact, it is necessary, according to Said, to look at how colonialists and imperialists employed "culture" to control distant land and peoples.
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